


Fossils of our past and future selves

by Sunpops1



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Heist, Possibly a oneshot? Possibly not?, Snipers, jirokichi is inconic and problematic and I am here for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:15:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29635194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunpops1/pseuds/Sunpops1
Summary: Shinichi noticed that he’d been smiling, thrilled with the fun of a heist and a chase because his face fell so fully when KID continued tumbling backwards.When KID had dropped off the edge of the roof.
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	Fossils of our past and future selves

The amber is different in the bright gallery lighting. The golds and oranges had lost their mysteriousness that they’d held the week before. 

At night, the gem had caught the moon and the city lights, and sucked them up to create a bright, yellow glow, that shone against the dark horizon. KID’s white glove cradled it like a stand, and held it up towards the moon. Shinichi was not, necessarily, an artistic man, but even he could appreciate the effect it created- casting a beam onto the rooftop of SONOKO hotel. 

The sight didn’t stop him from rushing forward, hand ready at his watch. It didn’t stop KID from being, as the case always seemed to be, disappointed. “I’m afraid that’ll be the end of today’s expedition then, meitantei. I’m afraid the Jurassic doesn’t quite appeal to me.” 

Shinichi had rolled his eyes. “It’s from the Cretaceous period.” 

KID muttered something under his breath. “Listen here you-”

“Conan-kun.” Ran says. Shinichi blinks, startled, and turns towards her. “Are you alright?” She stands beside him, in front of the display, slightly leaned over so that she can make comfortable eye contact with Shinichi- though it’s uncomfortable for him “You’re making a strange expression.”

Everything looked different now. When Shinichi had been here before, the place was crowded with security and traps. Jirokichi, as always, had gone all out. KID took the power out and it was dark, then, but today it was just bright and empty. 

Shinichi gave her a big smile he didn’t feel. “I’m good, Ran-neechan. I’m just thinking” 

Ran doesn’t look completely appeased by his answer, but, even as she gives him a worried glance, she straightens her back and doesn’t pry. “I guess you’re thinking about the KID heist, huh?”

“Yeah. I was just thinking about how I’m going to catch him next time!” 

He’d been as close to catching the man as he has gotten before. It seemed Shinichi was always just about to take the thief down, and then he’d miss. Honestly, he didn’t know if he even wanted to catch KID- the thief was a reprieve from his usual cases filled with grotesque murder and mutilation and long-standing grudges. Heists were one of the only things that were fun anymore. 

That night, KID had tossed the amber towards Shinichi, who had let go of his watch to catch the stone before it hit the ground. KID used that opportunity to flash his shiny grin, teeth white like his suit, and go for his usual practiced tumble off the rooftop.

Kudou Shinichi isn’t used to surprises, really. He liked having a good idea of what was to come. Even as he thrust himself into danger, he generally knew what to expect, and the ways a confrontation could go. Contingencies were in place, even that night he had the parachute on his back, the gas mask, and an extra pack of tranquilizer darts kept in his back pocket. 

However, KID having the edge of his forearm explode in a spray of blood as a bullet ripped through it was not something Shinichi had, exactly, planned for. He had heard that snipers had been at a few of KID’s earlier heists- since his reappearance- before, but he’d never had the pleasure of seeing them in action.

Shinichi noticed that he’d been smiling, thrilled with the fun of a heist and a chase because his face fell so fully when KID continued tumbling backwards.

When KID had dropped off the edge of the roof.

Shinichi, against his better judgement, had rushed to the railing and peered over the edge just in time to see KID right himself and release his hang glider. Another bullet shot towards him, which the thief avoided. The whole scene was awash in flashing red and blue as the police cars crowding the building blared their sirens.

“Shit.” Shinichi said to himself. He remembers that, and he remembers feeling stupid when he was done speaking because it felt like wasting time.

It took him a moment, but he found the building where the sniper was and zoomed in. The figure- a man by the looks of it- was already collapsing and packing up his rifle. Shinichi knew by the time he got to the building, the man would already be long gone. Shinichi had-

“If there is a next time.” 

The voice came from behind. Shinichi turned around with his eyes narrowed, and his guard up. But Ran asked the question before he could. “What do you mean?” 

Hakuba Saguru approaches with his hands behind his back, and Shinichi takes a breath, relaxing his shoulders. Hakuba gives him a glance at the motion, and Shinichi avoids it, plastering his face back on- happy- and greeting the teenager. “Hello, Hakuba-san.” 

He hadn’t really met the guy properly-and never as Shinichi. They’d had two brief exchanges, but he understood enough about Hakuba to know that he wasn’t the one taking potshots at KID- or hiring anyone else to do it.

Hakuba gives him a quick, efficient hello and answers Ran. Well, he tries to answer Ran, but he’s interrupted. “Well-” 

“Hakuba! I found you!” 

A teenage girl, who is loud, runs to Hakuba’s side. She looks like Ran, if Ran had taken a tumble in a dryer and shrunk a couple of inches. The girl greets Hakuba happily with a hug and he numbly responds by giving her a pat on the back. 

However, her excitement abades quickly and she starts to berate him for, apparently, not staying at the entrance like he’d promised. “You told me you were gonna wait at the front!” She tells him, and smacks him on the shoulder. 

Hakuba flinches at the hit, looking out of his element. He pulls out his pocket watch and flips it open to show his friend? Girlfriend? “You were late.” He says, like that explains it. “I got here at 10:25:06, you were meant to be here by 10:35. By the time it was 10:45 I came inside. It’s 11:00 now.”

The girl blushes, and looks down at her feet. “I missed the train.” she sounds embarrassed. “Sorry.”

Hakuba visually fumbles for words for a moment before finally settling on “Well, we are united again now, aren’t we Nakamori-san?”

She perks up at that. “We are!” She pats Hakuba on the shoulder. Now the touch is a friendly gesture, but he still has to try and hide a wince. 

Hakuba had said Nakamori. The girl must be inspector Nakamori’s daughter or something similar then, Shinichi thinks, to be let into the exhibit before it was officially opened. She finally seems to notice that there’s other people in the room, and she greets the two of them readily, “Hello, I’m Nakamori Aoko.”

Hakuba has palpable relief on his face, now that Nakamori has fixed her attention elsewhere, and Shinichi wonders if that’s what he looked like a moment ago when Ran diverted her gaze. He hoped he wasn’t so obvious, “Nakamori-san,” Hakuba says and Shinichi guesses that the formality either signifies that Hakuba is really that bad with people, or Aoko is not his girlfriend. “This is Mouri Ran and Edogawa Conan.”

Aoko’s face lights up in recognition at Conan’s name. “You’re that scary kid. My dad is always complaining about you.” Her face is blank. Words deadpan.

Ran seems to stifle a giggle, and Shinichi feels betrayed. Was he really scary? He thought that Haibara was the one with that schtick. Hi.” He says.

Aoko, for her part, does seem to recognize what she said after a moment, and her cheeks go pink again.

“It’s nice to meet you, Nakamori-san, and nice to see you again Hakuba-san,” Ran says, moving on and saving the other girl from trying to apologize. “Did Suzuki-sodanyaku invite you all?”

Aoko answers first, “He invited my dad. But he couldn’t come and I said I would go for him, as Hakuba’s plus one.” 

“I was surprised to be invited.” Hakuba tells them “I have never properly met the man before- and I was not at this last heist, either.”

“He must be planning something.” Shinichi mutters to himself.

“I can't imagine anything else.” Hakuba sighs. He doesn’t seem excited.

In his head, Shinichi makes a note to ask Hakuba about what he’d said earlier. He had made sure, after the heist, to see if any police statements had mentioned a sniper. None of them had. No one but him and KID knew what transpired. There wasn’t any blood on the roof, that was noticeable enough to warrant any tests without suspicion, and Shinichi had pocketed the bullet, so Hakuba must have either figured out what happened somehow or have other information.

Shinichi wasn’t sure why he’d picked up the bullet (a .338 Winchester Magnum, dented as it shot into and rattled across the concrete, Haibara said) but it seemed wrong to leave it there. Maybe he could’ve justified it if he’d given it to Haibara completely, had her test the blood and not just look at the maker, but instead it was currently burning a hole in the bottom of his backpack where he’d hidden it away.

Most of the exhibit was art Jirokichi had collected. Paintings and photographs of wild jungles where lush green foliage stood behind wild flora, fauna and plumage. The old man had explored some crazy places- most notably, apparently, several deep lone safaris into the amazon- and, in his usual fashion, wanted to put it on display so that everybody knew. 

KID had said expedition that night- tonight’s expedition- posed on the roof because of course he was one for such pretentious, purposeful diction. 

“Another heist?” Ran wonders aloud to the group. “But it’s only been a week…”

Aoko makes a face, “That sounds just like him. Making more problems for my dad.”

Your dad makes his own problems, Shinichi thinks to himself. “It won’t be that soon.” he says, “He’s probably trying to make some big plan for a heist in the future.”

Jirokichi couldn’t ever be blamed for not trying his best. The man was always trying to cook up some new scheme to fool the thief. It was just, simply, that Kaito KID was too good at what he did. Shinichi had to admit he had some respect for it- because it made KID a worthy adversary. They were not opposites but the two of them, Shinichi and KID, were different. Their minds worked in different ways, but both of them worked quick and well, and it made their fights exhilarating.

The thief had said once that the two of them were like the sea and sky, Shinichi was a critic, analyzing and reflecting the deeds of others in this way- a detective could not exist without a riddle- but Shinichi had been quick to correct him. They were two panes of blue, sure, but they were not blue for the same reason, nor was one simply a reflection of the other. A thief and a detective were black and white pieces on a chess board, each with a different advantage and therefore a different game plan. Shinichi didn’t need another player to figure out and play the game, like KID had arrogantly thought, but he made it more interesting.

Haibara would roll her eyes if Shinichi said that to her. He’s the one who’s arrogant?

“That will go well.” Hakuba doesn’t roll his eyes, but his voice conveys the tone well enough. Jirokichi was definitely going to cook up something new, bold and hairbrained and they all knew it.

“It may not be so bad.” Ran tries, “Just like Conan said- maybe this will be the time to catch him.” 

“I hope so.” Aoko says. “Someone has to take that stupid thief down!” The girl clenches her fist and huffs. After a moment, Hakuba taps her arm and she settles, shaking her sudden temper off.

When Hakuba checks the time again- that same watch- he tells her that there are exactly 

twenty-eight minutes and twelve seconds (and counting) before lunch. Aoko hurriedly drags a flustered Hakuba away to go see the exhibit he has probably already seen.

Shinichi has seen everything in here twice now. Ran lingers, though, in front of an oil painting where little darts of hummingbirds flit around a flower. As he goes to step out of the hallway he hears her mumble _how’d they get them to stay there long enough? They must’ve taken a photograph..._

Just as he did the last time, Shinichi follows the signs towards the stairway. 

(“A sniper shoots to kill.” Haibara had said, before passing the bullet back to Shinichi, who stuffed it, and the plastic bag it was in, back beneath his extra clothes and his skateboard. 

“That’s what makes it weird.” Shinichi told her, “Because the man was a professional.”

“What makes you say that?” She crossed her arms over her chest, surveying him from her office chair like a judge, “He could’ve had a personal grudge.”

“To even make that shot close to KID from that distance would take a trained professional as well as military grade equipment. Plus, when I checked it out, he hadn’t left a trace- the security cameras were wiped.” 

“So it was a warning shot, then," Shinichi nodded. “Are you sure you don’t want me to run a DNA test?”) 

It was one hell of a warning shot that night. 600 yards definitely warranted someone with training. To hit so specifically in a place that hurt, but a place that wouldn’t kill, to line it up so that it grazed just so, took skill. And the follow up one too, that KID avoided while twisting in the air was aimed close enough to scare but not hit- no one had found that bullet, Shinichi guessed it was lodged somewhere in the building’s thick walls. 

The walk up the stairs is a long one, but he’s glad for the time alone. He doesn’t get silence nearly as often as he’d like, he seems to always find himself being tossed between the Mouri’s apartment and school and crime scenes, there seems to always be somebody trying to get his attention, or something he must do. Even now, sure, he’s going to investigate the rooftop, but at least until he gets there he is just traveling through space- this stairwell- and left alone with his busy thoughts.

Maybe that should worry him, how quickly he latches onto the chance, these few minutes, to wind down, to try and organize his cluttered mind. 

As he did before, Shinichi bypasses the gate to get to the last section of the stairs- where they opened up on the roof by crawling beneath it. There are some things, at least, that make this body useful. 

He has just finished climbing up the last steps, and is ready to stretch up to the doorknob, when he hears the sound of someone’s voice on the other side of the door. It sounds like a man, and it sounds annoyed, but Shinichi can’t make out the words. 

He hesitates. It could just be maintenance, but if it is he’ll have to explain to them why the hell a six year old is on the roof. 

He doesn’t have enough time to debate his plan of action. Footsteps approach the door, and Shinichi dives to the left, letting the door provide him cover as it opens and he flattens his back to the wall behind it. 

“What a pain.” The man groans, in a voice Shinichi recognizes, and then drops the frustrated tone for that of one telling a dry joke, “literally.”

Shinichi peeks around the corner of the door as it shuts and sees the man rolling his shoulder. He gingerly brings his hand up to his right shoulder and hisses. Shinichi smirks. Kaito KID, in a pair of dark coveralls and sunglasses, with his hair tucked away in a black baseball cap, is turned away and looking down the stairs. The thief takes a phone out of his utility belt.

The door closes completely, and Shinichi doesn’t move except to settle into a more casual lean, arms crossed over his chest. KID is facing the stairs. 

“Couldn’t find it, Jii-chan. Yes, I looked everywhere. Yes, everywhere,” KID complains into his phone. "You sure you didn't see anything in any police files?"

A pause as whoever is on the other end of the phone (the guy's assistant, most likely) replies and KID's voice drops, becoming serious. "Do you think they have it?"

Shinichi clears his throat.

KID reacts fast. Before Shinichi can blink he finds himself face to face with the barrel of the thief's card gun.

"Oh," KID blinks "it's you."

The man slips the gun back into its holster, where it blends in along an assortment of tools. Shinichi raises an eyebrow, "You should probably carry around a real weapon." Shinichi tells him, "if you're going around getting shot."

"You've seen these cards stick into the walls, right? They can do some damage. And, I have these," KID pulls one hand away from his waist. What looks to be his smoke pellets rolled between each of his fingers.

The thief gets his phone back out- where had he put it?- and tells the person on the other end he has company. "No, don't worry," KID says before hanging up, "it's friendly. I'll explain later."

With a roll of his hand the smoke pellets disappear, presumably rolling back into his sleeve where they would stay ready to be employed "If someone is coming after you they're probably familiar with your usual tricks. If they got as close to you as I am they'd have a gas mask."

KID makes a pained expression. "I guess you could be right."

It's not like Shinichi is really in any place to judge. But even his soccer balls do more damage than cards and tear gas. "I am right"

KID thinks on that for a moment and nods, before rolling his head to the side like an excited dog. "Are you concerned about me, mei-tantei?"

Shinichi looks away, "if you don't want my advice, don't take it."

KID squeals, squatting down so the two of them are eye to eye, "You," KID pokes Shinichi's cheek, "are so cute! You are worried about me! Well, don't you fret your little baby head off. Your favorite phantom thief has got everything taken care of."

Shinichi tries to slap the hand away, but KID moves away before Shinichi can hit him."It didn't sound like that a minute ago," Shinichi says.

"Oh,” KID whines, “Why'd you have to remind me?" 

“I figured you’d like to know that I have the bullet.”

KID doesn’t seem to know what to make of that, but after a moment of confusion passes, the thief breaks into the biggest grin Shinichi has ever seen on him. The thief’s hand comes back to his face but instead of a poke, KID pinches his cheek, like an old woman meeting her grandchild for the first time,“Aren’t you just the cutest? I think you are the best, mei-tantei, have I ever told you how great you are? Just, so amazing.”

Shinichi does manage to smack his hand away this time, and the thief pulls it to his chest, rubbing it gingerly and giving him a dramatic pout. “You don’t have to suck up, I didn’t look for your identity.”

KID frowns, “I’m just thanking you, mei-tantei-kun, that’s all. I would’ve done that whether you saw who I am or not, it’s obvious enough you didn’t tell anyone or I’d be facing down Nakamori-keibu from a jail cell right now.”

“You shouldn’t trust me so much,” 

“Well, that’s my decision to make,” KID declares. “Even if you are scary. I mean, hey, I’m sure if you wanted to you could find out my identity blood sample or not, so the fact you haven’t…”

And that is that. KID says it with such simple conviction and doesn’t leave Shinichi with the space to protest, no matter how annoyed he feels. At a bit of a loss for words, all he says is, “You’re the second person to call me scary today.”

“Well whoever said that was right. I have a friend who is convinced that you are the human incarnation of a shinigami, and I’m not entirely sure she’s wrong, You know, one day, you’re going to kill me with one of those soccer balls of yours, and you’re going to feel really bad about it.”

“If I did, I’m sure you’d deserve it.” 

KID kept up the dramatics, sighing and grabbing at the fabric of his shirt, like he’d been suddenly wracked over by a deep pain in his heart. “You wound me so,” The teenager chokes on nothing and shakes his head, “Oh, it hurts, it hurts, oh you’ve- you’ve killed me. Please, let me leave with you my dying message… I have hid the treasure-” KID stops talking with a grimace, one hand splaying out on the ground. He collapses in a heap, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Shinichi half-heartedly kicks the prone form of the thief without response, turns, and pulls open the door behind him.

He hears KID’s indignant protest kick up behind him as he walks onto the roof. A wide glance over the area reveals nothing out of place. The same as it was last time, there’s some solar panels facing south and a row of air conditioning units but that's it. Looking over the edge provides him with the same view he already expected.

The side that KID fell down off of is the flat side of the building, where the other ones are terraced with different pool decks, restaurants and stores. 

“Maybe you’re not scary,” KID says, saddling up next to on the railing. “Maybe you’re just mean.”

Shinichi knew it had been a long shot to think he might think of something while standing here, but it’s still frustrating. He clenches his fists around the railings.

“No, actually,” KID corrects, “Definitely scary. Not mean. Look," KID rolls his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose and fixes Shinichi in his eyes "It’s nice of you and all, but you don’t need to solve this mystery, mei-tantei. I can handle this one myself.”

Shinichi loosens his grip. It’s as if, all of a sudden, he realizes what he’s been doing. “Sorry," 

"Don't be," KID says.

Shinichi hadn't even recognized he was rushing forward, sticking his nose into KID's life, jumping at the scene of a crime like he always did. Without even thinking he'd played the scene of that night in his head over and over again. Catching the amber, KID's smirk, KID's shoulder nicked by the bullet, the hang-glider catching the wind, red and blue lights. The sniper let off one more shot and within a minute his gun was collapsed, thirty more seconds and he was gone, all traces of his presence wiped clean. 

"Don't worry about me," KID says, "I'm a big boy. I can wash my own laundry." 

Shinichi suddenly felt a large pang of sympathy for Ran. "I know you can," Shinichi heads back for the stairway. 

"Oi, oi," KID follows closely behind, "Did you really just come here for me?"

"No," Shinichi opens the door, “I didn’t come here for you at all, actually. Unlike you, I was invited.”

“I was invited! That old man made sure I knew I was invited, too. It was in the news and everything.” 

Shinichi glances over his shoulder, “You were issued a challenge. You didn’t have to take it. Plus, that was a week ago.”

“Semantics.”

“KID, I need to go or I’ll be late,” Shinichi tells him, “Whatever Jirokichi is doing, he’s pulling out the big guns. So don’t get shot until then, or the old man will be mad.”

Shinichi heads down the stairs, but is stopped, suddenly at KID’s call. 

When he turns around he sees the thief silhouetted in the door frame.

He looks different in the daylight. He looks smaller, and younger, and his grin isn’t quite sly so much as it is carefully guarded. Shinichi knows the other is young but he’s suddenly struck by the idea that KID may not just be his age, it’s possible that he’s _younger._

KID takes off his sunglasses completely now, and settles them in the collar of his coveralls. Shinichi holds in his surprise. He knew KID looked like him but he didn’t expect that he looked quite so identical. Kaito KID’s face is like a mirror of Kudo Shinichi’s.

“You act like I’m the only one putting myself at risk,” KID says, “But I happen to remember a train that literally exploded. How about we both agree to stay out of danger?” 

Yeah.

That was never going to happen.

Shinichi starts down the stairs. Ran is probably looking for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Is it a oneshot? Will I continue it? Who knows? I wrote this in one day and didn't edit it so it's probably trash but w/ever. Lately I've just been trying to write more and thought that fanfiction could help get my writerly juices flowing a little.


End file.
